Until the 2020 election, local election officials worked in obscurity and anonymity, ensuring that the election was fairly administered and complied with state and federal laws. But ever since the president-elect’s loss in 2020, they have borne the brunt of his efforts to sow doubt about the integrity of US elections. They have faced vicious harassment campaigns, been bombarded with public records requests, and been on the frontlines combating misinformation about voting. A number left the profession altogether.
Many election officials had been preparing for an intense period of uncertainty after election day, concerned that, as in the 2020 election, the winner of the presidential election would be uncertain and they would face immense pressure as Trump and his allies sought to subvert the election results. But when the race was called fairly quickly for Trump, the results were widely accepted, with few questions about who won.
“I think the age of election denialism is, for all intents and purposes, dead,” Adrian Fontes, a Democrat who is Arizona’s top election official, said when he certified his state’s election results in late November.
But in interviews, several local election officials said the story was more complex. While they hoped the uncontested outcome of the 2024 election would pave the way for a return to normalcy after four bruising years, they doubted it would end election denialism altogether.
“The temperature certainly needed to be brought down, and as a result of the election, the temperature seems to have frozen,” said Barb Byrum, a Democrat who oversees elections in Ingham county in Michigan.
“I don’t think it’s the end of election denialism, but the louder conspiracy believers, their candidate won,” Byrum said. “It has been evident that when that particular group, when their candidate is victorious, they’re quiet. But that does not mean that they won’t be louder for the next election.”
Eighty-eight per cent of voters say that the 2024 elections were administered well, a significant increase from 2020, when just 59% said so, according to a recent survey by Pew Research Center….